There Will Come Soft Rains
by Audemed
Summary: In the last moments of the final fight, Naruto hesitates- and that is all Madara ever needed. Cursed to live on beneath the red moon as his friends die, help comes from someone unexpected as he gets a second chance to fix what went wrong. Ending up in the middle of the Third War, Naruto sets out to change everything.
1. There Will Come Soft Rains

**There Will Come Soft Rains**

* * *

. . .

_"And not one will know of the war, not one_  
_Will care at last when it is done._

_Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree,_  
_If mankind perished utterly;_

_And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn,_  
_Would scarcely know that we were gone."_

-Sara Teasdale, 'There Will Come Soft Rains', Flame and Shadow

. . .

* * *

Chapter One

**The End...**

It was raining, still. A soft rain that coated everything in cold dew, collected on the branches, on the leaves, on the needles, and dripped off in great fat drops that soaked through Naruto's wet clothes and onto his wet skin. He squatted, still and silent, in the damp brush, water running down his face. He felt the great motion of the forest and heard all its thousand sounds. The countless crawling of the insects, the blind scuttling of the moles, the timid rustling of the deer.

He heard everything except the sounds he was most familiar with. The sounds he'd yearned to hear for the last three days. The sounds of humans. He needed a sign. If there was at least one of them still alive- at least _one_, he told himself- then it would have been worth it.

Naruto gave a short, bitter laugh, and shook his head in exasperation. Of course there wasn't.

_Of course_.

"Alone." he said out loud, running a hand through his damp hair absentmindedly. He stood with his back to a tree, a stillness in his body and a terrible silence clenched between his teeth. Dying by your own hand is not an easy thing to contemplate, especially for a man like Naruto. He thrust his hand into his pocket, taking out a rusty kunai. Its bright blade glistened with wet. He'd had three days to think about it.

He took the kunai into his right hand, brought his other hand forward, and moved to slash across his wrist. _I'm sorry_, thought Naruto even as the blade glistened red. It was just then when his stomach glowed brightly against the darkness of the night, and he saw no more.

* * *

_I'm back here again, in the seal, _he thought, as he inspected his surroundings.

The air was cold and wet, beads of water clinging to his eyelashes, the water around his knees sloshing with each pained step he took towards the heavy gates looming ahead, stretching up into the darkness.

The scene was the same as Naruto had experienced several times before- the location he found himself in looked to be something like a sewer, with pipes going up along the ceiling and water dripping with every step he took towards his destination.

_The fox still lives._

Up ahead, red chakra drifted around the bars of the seal like a living flame. The bars were broken- turned inside themselves, which meant that they had been broken from the outside. Inside, was nothing.

Naruto's eyes narrowed as he turned around. He heard his name being whispered from the east. With one last, longing look at the broken seal, where some of Kyuubi's chakra still remained, he turned to the direction he'd heard the sound coming from.

_Perhaps...some of its essence survived, during the breakage of the seal. _Naruto tried to not let his hopes get too high as he plodded on to his destination. A cold breeze passed through his body, and he felt a hand on his shoulder.

Turning around, he stared into eyes as blue as the ocean as the person enveloped him into a hug.

* * *

Minato watched with somber eyes as Naruto narrated the series of events that had driven him to desperation. The boy was saying something about the Edo Tensei technique, about how it had all gone wrong when Minato took a hold of his son's shoulders and told him to take a deep breath.

It is hard to say what troubled Minato so much. Naruto didn't seem noticeably changed in any way. Except, perhaps, that he moved a little slower, and the spark- the _fire_ he'd seen in Naruto's eyes when he'd met him previously- it was gone now.

"It's over now, isn't it?" Minato said.

Naruto stared downwards. "Yes...and it's all my fault. I couldn't save even one of them, father..._not even one-_" he said bitterly, before being cut off by Minato.

"You know why I chose the Shiki Fujin technique to seal the Kyuubi in you, and not any of the other, conventional ones, Naruto?" said Minato, staring out of the window nearby into the endless void.

Minato had told Naruto that the seal reflects what the owner thinks of it- Naruto had always thought of the seal as a jail, he had always thought it to be something you could never think of fondly- and so his mind had turned the seal into a sewer. It was only a matter of perception, in the end, but now that Naruto knew about the seal, he and Minato were sitting in a replica of the Hokage tower instead of a sewer.

"...I had always wondered..." Naruto mumbled in a small voice, shaking his head.

"If I were to summarise the reason behind my decision with one word, it would be Hope." Minato smiled, still staring out of the window. Turning his head to face Naruto fully, he spoke again. "But then again, one word doesn't explain everything now, does it? In truth, if I were to be honest with you, it was a mixture of desperation, hope, duty, and...preparation."

Naruto frowned. "Preparation for what?"

"You see, moments leading up to my death, I had put the pieces of the puzzle together and worked out the masked man's identity. His fighting style, his voice-everything had been familiar to me. But it was only in my last moments that I could fit the pieces- that I could tell that the masked man was infact, Obito. And in that moment, I made my decision. I knew I was going to die any way, I had interacted too much with the Kyuubi's malevolent chakra- it had already began its work, taking its toll on my body. I can see now that you can somehow purify that chakra, Naruto- but at that time it was poison, for all intents and purposes. My death was inevitable. Kushina had died. And so, I summoned the Death God."

Minato paused, as if remembering something. He then shook his head, and continued. "I made the contract. In exchange for my life, it sealed half the Kyuubi's chakra along with it's consciousness into you-" Minato was interrupted in between by Naruto.

"You keep calling him Kyuubi, father. He has a name. Kurama."

Minato smiled again, something in Naruto reminding him of himself when he was younger. "- it sealed half of Kurama's chakra into you. And half of it was to be sealed with me into the Death God's stomach, supposedly fighting for all of eternity."

"Wait, so you mean Kurama- when he was sealed in me, had only half of his chakra? What the fu-"

"Ah, no. Kurama probably recovered all of it in a matter of weeks at the most. He probably didn't even know."

"So why did you seal half of it with you, then?"

"Preparation."

"...Preparation for what?"

"For this." Minato took something out of his hand and put it on the ground. It exploded with a poof of smoke.

Coughing, Naruto saw through the haze that the ground which he had been standing on had been transformed into a seal. One heck of a large seal.

"My masterpiece. It took me sixteen years to make this, Naruto. Sixteen years of working tirelessly in your seal, hiding from Kurama. But it is useless without the yang chakra that is sealed into the Shinigami's stomach-"

"-uhh, I don't know if you know this, father, but Orochimaru and the others kinda split its stomach open or something so that they could resurrect you and the other Kage's with the Edo Tensei. So...about that chakra..."

"I know, I know. When you split open its stomach, Kurama's yang chakra went to the version of me that was resurrected. But after that version..." Minato seemed to be scrambling for words. "...died, it came back to me. I don't quite know why this happened, but it is what it is."

"...Okay. So, this seal."

"Amazing, isn't it?"

"Well, it is quite large."

Minato gasped. _Could it be...that my son does not know the art of sealing?_ "Naruto...what did Jiraiya teach you?"

"Oh, a lot of things. The Rasengan, Sage-Mode. And uh, other things."

Minato palmed his head. "Sealing?"

"Nope."

Sighing, Minato started again. "Then I suppose I'll have to explain this to you. Simply put, this is a seal for...time-traveling."

* * *

**To be continued in the next Chapter:** ...Or a New Beginning?

* * *

**Authors' Notes:**

'Meh, another one of those cliche time-travel stories.'

I suppose that was your reaction when you read this.

I suppose you think this is gonna be like another one of those stories where Naruto gets to go back in time and is invincible and godlike.

I suppose you haven't read my other story, 'Atonement' yet.

I hope all of these misconceptions will be cleared by the next chapter.

Stay tuned!


	2. In the Dark of the Night

**There Will Come Soft Rains**

* * *

_"It is dark, no moon, no light_

_J__ust darkness, a starless sky_

_The wind blows, the waves break  
A single firefly passes by_

_Soon the firefly is gone_  
_Leaving me in the darkest of nights_  
_The tiny fly made me anticipate_  
_A sunrise with the finest of lights__"_

-Aufie Zophy, 'In the Dark of the Night'

* * *

Chapter Two

**In the Dark of the Night**

* * *

"Time...traveling." Naruto said the words slowly, as if he couldn't believe what he was saying. Running a hand through his hair absentmindedly, he began to speak again. "How is that even possible?"

"Apparently, it is. This seal is a variation of my technique, the Hiraishin. I assume you're familiar with it?" Minato asked.

"Yes, yes. It allows you to instantly teleport to the location of the seal regardless of distance." Naruto sat down to inspect the seal on the ground, as if to make sense of it- it was still gibberish to him. Shaking his head, he stood up to face Minato, who watched on bemusedly. "But how can that technique be related to this...to time-travel?"

Minato chuckled. Naruto watched him with a confused expression on his face. "What?" he asked.

"Oh, nothing. Your look back then was just...funny. Anyway, you asked how Hiraishin can be related to his. You know it already. Hiraishin is based on a-" Minato could swear he saw a bulb above Naruto light up as he interrupted, "Time-space seal!" Naruto blurted, proud of himself for figuring it out on his own.

"Indeed. Now, it works using two primary seals. One, as you know, is in these-" a tri-pronged kunai materialized in Minato's hand. Minato pointed to it. "-kunai. It's a simple locator seal. Now the real piece of work is here," he pulled his shirt up a little and tapped his own stomach twice. Instantly, words- seals, were visible on Minato's stomach, growing brightly. "This seal's job is to contract the space ahead of me, and to expand the space behind me. Which allows me to travel at speeds faster than even the speed of light* aside from that, it connects with one of the locator seals I've chosen when activating the technique, and directs my path to that." he said, pulling his shirt back down. "And that, son, is how the Hiraishin works. Do you understand?"

"Sure. Umm, basically, what you're saying is that it..." Minato eyes glinted. _Perhaps there is hope for my son!_ "...works on magic."

Minato palmed his head.

"For now, lets say it does. Now, I believe you can see where the problem with time-traveling lies."

"You said that you modified this seal from the Hiraishin. Then..." another bulb lit up. "...we can only travel back in time to when you made the first locator seal!"

Minato almost clapped. "Yes, that's where the problem lies. I created the locator seal during the beginning of the third war."

Naruto waved his hand in front of Minato's face. "That's no problem at all, dad. I'll go back, end the war, kill Madara, and that will be it."

"Son, it isn't that simple. Not at all. The third war was the bloodiest war in the history of Konoha-"

"I'm strong. I...I killed Madara, remember? Even though it didn't mean anything, in the end, but I still killed him."

"You don't have Kurama to help you now, Naruto. You're alone."

_Alone. _Naruto had almost forgotten that. Forgotten that, outside of this seal, the world was empty. Him killing Madara had ended the Infinite Tsukiyomi, but it had killed all the people that were trapped in its genjutsu as well.

_I killed them. Everyone is dead._

"I'm strong." he repeated. "What are we even waiting for? Send me back, dad."

"As I said before...it isn't that simple. This seal won't work in this place. You need to remake this exact seal outside. And we've got to get on to work immediately- my time is running out, Naruto. I have a day- two, at most, left. Let's begin."

* * *

It is hard to say what troubled Minato so much. Naruto didn't seem noticeably changed in any way. Except, perhaps, that he moved a little slower, and whatever small spark the night's activity had lit behind his eyes was dimmer now. In fact, it could hardly be seen. In fact, it may not have been there at all.

"Are you fine, Naruto?" he spoke into Naruto's mind. Naruto had been determined to complete the seal in one day and so they had- but now he looked to be utterly exhausted. The enthusiasm he had before had vanished.

Naruto had closed his eyes, in preparation to sleep. When he opened them in response to Minato's inquiry, they were solid blue- the color of deep water or the darkening sky. "No," he said slowly, raising his right hand up to see it in the red light of the moon. "I am not fine, dad. Tomorrow, you will dissappear. And then...and then I'll be truly alone, in this world. Ever since that day, " he paused, closing his eyes again, as if to make the memories disappear. "the day when everything went wrong, an incredible loneliness has settled inside me. You'd think- " he hesitated before continuing. "one would think that from the way I was isolated by the village since my birth, I'd be used to it by now. But I've always had someone to fall back on- first it was the Old man, then it was Sasu- my team, then it was Kurama. The Old man died long ago, Sasuke abandoned me, Kurama is dead and so is my team and the rest of my precious people. Even you will dissappear tomorrow, dad." _and then I'll be alone_.

He closed his eyes again, taking a deep breath. "I've never felt or experienced anything like this before." He opened his eyes, and this time they were the pure blue of noontime-sky. "What if it fails, dad?"

_What if the seal fails?_

"It won't." Minato assured him. _I hope._

_"_Even if it works, dad, I'm not strong. Not without Kurama. I've been denying it to myself but you know its true...What if I go back and I can't do anything?"

Minato shook his head. "True strength comes from the desire to protect. If you've forgotten even that, Naruto, then you are truly a fool."

Minato felt something in his stomach, a vague unease. Something pulled at him. He looked down, at his leg was...fading. In an instant he realized what was happening. _No. The worst possible time..._

Minato knew that this was his last chance to say goodbye.

"It seems that my time has come, Naruto. Know that whatever you do, I'll be watching-" Naruto's eyes opened once again, in a flash and he screamed out- "No! Not yet, not now-" Minato could only smile bitterly, helpless against the strings of fate that pulled at him even now. "I'll be there for you, Naruto, when you go back. I won't be the same as now, but I'll still be there." his hands were beginning to fade now, as Naruto rushed forward, clutching at his dad's chest, finally the tears coming through. Minato enveloped him in a hug, and whispered in his ears, "I'm proud of you, my son." His time was up. With his last breath, he whispered. "Goodbye." _I love you._

Naruto clutched at air and screamed out a denial even as Minato disappeared. Crumpling down to the ground, he let out a string of curses to the gods above. Then suddenly, as if realizing something, the curses stopped. A lone tear fell, and silence reigned for what might have been hours.

When at last Naruto opened his eyes, they were the pale blue-white of lightning.

"I will change everything." _For you, father. And for everyone._

The self-doubt was gone now, replaced by the will to succeed. The will he had inherited from his dad, from the old man, from Jiraiya and from Konoha. The will of fire.

* * *

A cold wind was blowing from the north, making the trees rustle like living things. Shafts of sunlight pressed down on the boy running through the wilderness, stumbling and falling. The boy had short, spiky, black hair and black eyes. He was wearing a long sleeved blue uniform with metal plating on the part that reached the back of his hands, as well as a blue jacket with an orange collar and trimmings. The jacket was fastened to the rest of the outfit by two buttons on the collar, and had the Uchiha clan crest at the back. He was also wearing a white belt, shinobi sandals, the standard Konoha forehead protector, and a pair of goggles with orange lens connected to ear protectors. "Shit!" he cursed, falling yet another time.

_At this rate I'll be killed!_ He picked up the pace. Gasping, he could now see the end of the forest. _Will I make it?_

Falling one final time, he coughed.

A shadow loomed over him. _Shit_.

Overhead, birds flew through the bright noontime sky. "Did I make it in time?" he coughed out. Squinting due to the sunlight, he could make out that a boy with silver hair was standing in front of him.

"Nope. Because you're late, Obito!" the boy with the silver hair said. "Again." he added. Looking down at Obito with his eyes threatening to pop.

"You idiot! What time did you think we were meeting?! If you're a fully fledged ninja, you should naturally follow the rules and regulations strictly!" Kakashi said, turning away from Obito.

Obito, who had by now gotten up and dusted himself off, defended himself. "No! On the way I had to help an old woman along the way with her luggage." he said. "...plus, there was something in my eye..." he sheepishly added when Kakashi said nothing.

A man with bright blue eyes and spiky blonde hair watched his students while sitting on a large boulder not too far away from them. He smiled, remembering his own childhood.

"What? That's a lie!" Kakashi screamed.

"Hey, don't talk like that, Kakashi! It's true!" Obito shouted in reply.

Minato finally spoke up, looking at Obito. "You went with the old lady, didn't you..." to which Obito replied, while fiddling with his left eye, "Yeah! and I carried her luggage too!"

"...You're a real pushover, Obito." Minato said, still smiling.

Kakashi, who was getting more and more annoyed while watching this exchange, spoke up. "You should be getting angry at Obito!" he accused Minato. "Those ninjas who don't follow rules and regulations are called trash! That's just how it is!"

A stray drop of sweat dropped from Minato as he laughed hesitatingly.

"Blah blah blah, rules and regulations. Just shut up." Obito said, still rubbing his eye.

Kakashi's eyes threatened to pop when a girl with brown hair and brown eyes who was watching finally chose to intervene. "Hey! Calm down both of you, we're on the same team, aren't we?"

Kakashi sighed. "Rin, you're too easygoing on him. You know this is a very important day for me..."

Rin blinked and then smiled. "Yeah..., yeah, it is." Obito didn't have a clue as to what was going on.

"Umm, can someone remind me why is today such an important day for him?"

"Kakashi was promoted to Jounin today. Now he's just like me." Minato explained. "Now that he's jounin, I'll be splitting off from you all. As of today, you are now part of Team Kakashi." he said.

"We're...splitting..." Obito mouthed slowly.

"Yeah, that's right. Kakashi will be your team commander and I'll be on my own." Minato said.

"I told you about today, Obito!"

"...I didn't listen, I guess..."

Kakashi said nothing.

Minato winked at Rin and pulled out a tri-pronged kunai from his pocket. "I'll give you this," he said, spinning the kunai on his index finger. "It's my special kunai." he winked at Kakashi this time and smiled. "It's a little heavy than normal, but when you get used to it it'll be fine." He handed the kunai to Kakashi, who took it. "Take it with you on today's mission."

Rin gave him a special medical pack.

Kakashi wordlessly extended his hand to Obito, looking expectant.

"What's the hand for? I'm not giving YOU anything!"

"Fine. Make yourself useful and carry my stuff for me then."

Obito grudgingly accepted, feeling guilty due to not buying anything for Kakashi. After a few minutes of silence, Obito blurted out, "I am Obito Uchiha of the Uchiha clan! I will surpass you!" birds chirped for a moment as silence reigned. "...when I awaken my sharingan!" Obito added. Minato put a hand on Obito's shoulder, silencing him immediately.

"Heeey, can I explain the mission now?" Obito glared at Kakashi one more time before nodding. "Fine. As you can all see, we're nearly at the country border." Minato took out a map from his back pocket. "We're here," he pointed at their location on the map. "Currently, the Earth Country is invading the Grass Country through this route. We have information that there are close to a thousand rock ninja's among their front line. Now, if they continue advancing like this, Grass will fall in a matter of days. And Fire Country is next. So our objective is to go behind the enemy lines and sabotage their supply lines. The majority of their supply comes from-"

"The bridge. So our mission is to destroy it, I assume." Kakashi interjected.

"Yes. Team Kakashi, your mission is to sneak behind the front lines, destroy the bridge, and get away quickly."

"And you, sensei?" Obito asked.

"I'll engage the front line directly," Minato said, his back to the team, already moving away from the team. "To divert their attention from you."

* * *

Naruto shook his head from side-to-side as if to remove the dizziness he felt. Looking up, he saw the bright noontime sky covered by wilderness. Shafts of sunlight escaped and touched his face. Amazing...he mouthed. He moved his hand, feeling something prick it. Beneath, there was a tri-pronged kunai. Eyes widening, Naruto stood up suddenly, dusted himself off and jumped on a tree.

Minutes later, Kakashi came waddling out of the small stream running through the forest, with an exasperated Obito running ahead. Kakashi picked up the kunai and cleaned it off, before turning his head in Obito's direction.

Naruto's eyes bulged at seeing a younger version of Kakashi, but he managed to keep himself in check. _It worked, then. _

_Time-travel._

"Obito!" Kakashi screamed. "Don't go after them!" Obito, who was running toward the direction where the two Rock ninja's had taken Rin, turned around after hearing those words with a look of surprise on his face.

"What the fu-"

"The two of us...we'll resume the mission."

"And Rin? What about Rin?!"

"Leave her for now. The enemy wants to know our objective..."

Naruto tuned both the boys out as he began to think of what to do next.

"...I'm going to rescue Rin!" he heard Obito say before the boy bolted off.

Kakashi stared after him.

Naruto looked at Obito go, before getting a good look at Kakashi. He almost let out a gasp as he realized that Kakashi didn't have a sharingan yet. Mentally reprimanding Kakashi in his mind- _Kakashi-sensei, don't abandon him...you weren't like this..._

_Is this...is this how Kakashi-sensei gained his Sharingan?_ he wondered. Perhaps sensei and Obito failed in trying to rescue Rin, and...and that is how Obito ended up being the way he was in the future. This is why he hated Konoha and Kakashi. Sending children on a mission like this in the midst of a war. Perhaps this situation is the cause of it all.

_Then...I will save her._ He promised himself, and took off like a lightning bolt towards the direction the boys had taken.

Even if it means that Kakashi-sensei never gains the Sharingan.

* * *

* the explanation for the seal on Minato's stomach (which enables Hiraishin) is inspired by the Alcubierre drive. (Warp Drive)

**A/N:** Yep, no Kurama for Naruto. A downgrade in strength! _Gasp_! Also, he's a bit mistaken about what happens next, but it's pretty close to the truth so it'll do.

A lot of stuff repeated from canon, but it was necessary. If you read it all, reviews are appreciated. Constructive criticism and questions, if you have any, are also welcome. Chapters will probably get bigger as they go along.

Stay tuned!


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